Welcome Back Nota // EQ Question

nota

nota

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Hey all, I'm back after about six years :) Back in the day I traded the original AxeFx around a lot, but got sick of lugging rack gear. Thanks to the AX8 I think I've found a permanent pedal replacement! Famous last words, GAS makes you flaky and unpredictable :)

Anyway, been trying all day to create a patch that mimics my Dumblish sound. Lately I've been gigging with an Ethos Amp and love it.

The stock cabs, even the ones that seem well suited to the D amps, seem very bassy/tinny to me. Is this just because they are all "close miced"? Do most of you fix this by the low/hi cut knobs in the amp block? I found I had to dramatically cut - like 250Hz and 6000-8000 on top. I feel like I'm losing realism that way, but I'm just not used to such, well, full range from my "real life" setup.

PS I'm using a QSC K8 as my FRFR. It's fairly flat, from what I can tell after many hours of research, and I recently made a spreadsheet comparing <30lb speakers under $1000.
 
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Welcome back, @nota!

There are lots of potential answers to your questions, beginning with "What are you monitoring through?" (you answered that...K8's can be a bit bright) and ending with "put your ear up against the grill cloth, at the center of the speaker—you'll hear the same thing the mic hears, and you'll ask your sound guy to high-cut it and low-cut it, too. :)
 
Your Cab block 'Low' and 'High' cuts aren't out of the ordinary at all. Try the 'Cut' switch under the 'Bass' knob in the Amp block too. And then lower your 'Low Cuts' a bit, for more 'Thump' without the 'Flub'

One trap that many fall into is trying to make a 'Modeled', close mic'd, full range, FOH ready tone sound like a traditional 'off-axis' amp in the room tone. Two different animals.
 
Thanks! I'm just wondering if any of you have noticed this about the stock IRs, and how you correct it:

- EQ in amp
- Hi/low cut in amp
- Speaker resonance in amp block
- GEQ/PEQ after the amp?

There's a lot of ways to skin this cat! Any of those would work, I'm wondering what y'all do, and if you even notice it. Maybe I just need to re-adjust my ears for hearing what actual big cabs sound like.

Moke said:
Your Cab block 'Low' and 'High' cuts aren't out of the ordinary at all. Try the 'Cut' switch under the 'Bass' knob in the Amp block too. And then lower your 'Low Cuts' a bit, for more 'Thump' without the 'Flub'

One trap that many fall into is trying to make a 'Modeled', close mic'd, full range, FOH ready tone sound like a traditional 'off-axis' amp in the room tone. Two different animals.
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Thanks, I've done exactly those things so far! Just comforting to know it's not a bad way to do it, and that I'm not crazy for hearing this. I auditioned this stuff all last night and a couple hours today, and I think I'm going crazy :)
 
nota said:
I'm just wondering if any of you have noticed this about the stock IRs, and how you correct it...
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High- and Low-Cut in the Cab block. That's what they're there for. :)

Especially effective when you have Filter Slope set to 12 dB/octave.
 
And as I've had to learn a couple of times... When your making adjustments like this putting the looper at the front of the chain can save some guitar juggling and sore fingers. You still have to pick up the guitar to see how the settings feel, but when it comes to hearing the exact same thing and how EQ/settings changes effect it, it's hard to beat that loop!
 
Dendrite said:
putting the looper at the front of the chain can save some guitar juggling and sore fingers
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Yep, already got the sore fingers and ear fatigue :)

FractalAudio said:
K8s, yuck.
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Could you be more specific? I believe you, but they get very good reviews almost everywhere for being pretty flat and loud. I researched for hours and hours to get the best FRFR solution for under $1000.

I don't mind being wrong here, just want to know why you think they are bad, and which speaker is better - under 30 pounds and under $1000?
 
@nota Your spreadsheet is missing the Yamaha DXR series. I use two DXR12 cabs but recommend the DXR10 because they sound the same but weigh less. The only reason I have DXR12 is because I got a killer deal.

When I was shopping for powered FRFR I made a spreadsheet similar to yours. I brought my Axe-Fx II to my local Guitar Center and tried it through all of their FRFR cabs. I played guitar, bass and music through the cabs to find the most versatile. I also made sure to use my ears and not listen with the specs in mind. A friend went with me and switched cabs, while I blindly chose which sounded best. In my opinion the QSC K series seemed to have a nasty high end ear fatiguing sound. The Yamaha DXR series had the best mix of features I wanted.

Once I switched to FRFR it felt very natural for me and I was able to get the tones I've always wanted because I've always heard guitar from recordings and not in a room. It made recording a lot easier too because with my old traditional guitar cabs, I used to crank the high end and over EQ to try and make the tone reaching my ears sound like a recorded tone but then the miced tone sounded horrible and ear piercing with high end.

I recommend trying to get your tone to sound like a recorded tone you like and not an amp in room tone. I also have my FRFR cabs on stands so they're at ear level, so I don't have to crank up the levels to reach my ears ...am I too loud enough yet!? haha
 
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I find the stock cabs on the dark and bassy side. Try the ML USA 57-121 and the ML TV Mix C in stereo. Should have a little smoother response.
 
GotMetalBoy said:
Yamaha DXR series
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I researched these extensively. They are too big and heavy, although I see they have good reviews. I want something under 30 pounds (well under if possible). My old JBL Eon 510 was 17 pounds and sounded good, wasn't noisy, and small. Loud enough for my needs too.

Jarick said:
Try the ML USA 57-121 and the ML TV Mix C in stereo
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I'm not running stereo, nor wish to. Do you mean run them together in mono? Where do you get them?
 
B:ASSMASTER said:
If you were happy with those, have you thought about buying them again?
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Yes, but the 510s were discontinued, I think due to reliability issues with the horn. The 610 was definitely considered, and it's in my spreadsheet, linked to above, but it's much bigger in size than the K8, while being half the wattage and about the same weight.
 
You can use a stereo cab to mix two IR's. It will still be mono unless you pan them and have a stereo signal path.
 
Tahoebrian5 said:
You can use a stereo cab to mix two IR's. It will still be mono unless you pan them and have a stereo signal path.
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Ok great! I have found that I like both the Bludo cab and one of the EV12L models, with drastic low/high cuts: 220 - 4000 or so. This closely mimics the feel I got from my "real" 1x12 cab when in the room and off-axis.
 
nota said:
I'm not running stereo, nor wish to. Do you mean run them together in mono? Where do you get them?
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They are factory cabs, #58 or #59 and #73. I find them very complementary and more open sounding than others. You can run two cabs as "stereo" in the cab block and pan them to mono. Running two cabs seems to result in a more balanced sound to my ears.
 
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